Some ruminating on stones (Moved from show and tell)

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Originally Posted by Croaker

Nice job! I would feel right at home in your new shaving environment. Is that an Escher in the right side of the hone drawer?

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Thank you. The gray stone is a Thuringian I bought a couple of weeks ago from life2short1971. I think it's a newer rather than vintage one, but it has a good honing history. I'm still learning it. That's also his coticule; mine's with him. We did a temporary swap, which has been a great way for me to see different they are.

My own, which I found in an old family toolbox, is extremely slow and makes no sound at all while honing. This borrowed one is a good bit faster and makes a really cool steely sound. Mine makes a very sweet-smelling slurry and the other doesn't have any scent. Mine has a completely dull surface; the other has a satin surface that reflects light back in a warm gorgeous glow.

Unfortunately, I now understand why people get into collecting coticules. :eek:

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Originally Posted by roughkype

Thank you. The gray stone is a Thuringian I bought a couple of weeks ago from life2short1971. I think it's a newer rather than vintage one, but it has a good honing history. I'm still learning it. That's also his coticule; mine's with him. We did a temporary swap, which has been a great way for me to see different they are.

My own, which I found in an old family toolbox, is extremely slow and makes no sound at all while honing. This borrowed one is a good bit faster and makes a really cool steely sound. Mine makes a very sweet-smelling slurry and the other doesn't have any scent. Mine has a completely dull surface; the other has a satin surface that reflects light back in a warm gorgeous glow.

Unfortunately, I now understand why people get into collecting coticules. :eek:

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Yes, every coticule which has passed through my hands has had different characteristics. In my experience, the faster cutting coticules have produced a smooth edge that is not quite as sharp as the edge off the very slow cutters. My mainstay coticule is a natural 8X3 combo, which is fast cutting on the coticule side using slurry (also sweet and creamy), so I use the BBW afterward to restore sharpness, then finish with just water on the coticule with very light strokes. I keep a Deep Rock natural combo in reserve in case something ever happens to my workhorse coticule. The trick is to figure out which razors get a better edge off the coticule, and which are better off the Eschers! Those also have different characteristics. I only have two, but hope to get more to compare. One is blue gray (similar to yours, and came with the label intact) and the other one came without a label and is yellow green in color, with a milkier slurry and a super edge producer. All hail the HAD!!

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Originally Posted by Croaker

Yes, every coticule which has passed through my hands has had different characteristics. In my experience, the faster cutting coticules have produced a smooth edge that is not quite as sharp as the edge off the very slow cutters. My mainstay coticule is a natural 8X3 combo, which is fast cutting on the coticule side using slurry (also sweet and creamy), so I use the BBW afterward to restore sharpness, then finish with just water on the coticule with very light strokes. I keep a Deep Rock natural combo in reserve in case something ever happens to my workhorse coticule. The trick is to figure out which razors get a better edge off the coticule, and which are better off the Eschers! Those also have different characteristics. I only have two, but hope to get more to compare. One is blue gray (similar to yours, and came with the label intact) and the other one came without a label and is yellow green in color, with a milkier slurry and a super edge producer. All hail the HAD!!

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Those sound like some nice stones! Your Deep Rock stone sounds like something mined by dwarves, back before the Age of Man.

That switch from yellow to BBW to yellow again seems so counterintuitive, but yeah, makes perfect sense.

My rotation is still a bit of a moving target and I haven't been honing long enough to recognize any patterns, except that my Greaves & Sons wedge really only behaves well on dry synthetic stones. That alone may justify the Spyderco UF.

The surprise off the Thuringian is that the slurry is yellow-green-brown, not black at all. Are Thuringians slates? What sort of lap count do you use to finish on yours?

Wouldn't it be great to discover that the Portuguese slate backing coticules turned out to be the Next Big Thing... :rofl2:

All Hail the HAD indeed. God help us, every one.

The surprise off the Thuringian is that the slurry is yellow-green-brown, not black at all. Are Thuringians slates? What sort of lap count do you use to finish on yours?

Wouldn't it be great to discover that the Portuguese slate backing coticules turned out to be the Next Big Thing... :rofl2:

All Hail the HAD indeed. God help us, every one.[/QUOTE]

That is a good question about the geology of Thuringian hones. The best explanations I have read call them a type of clay slate, with embedded quartz particles which do the cutting and polishing. I don't do lap counts in finishing; my "tell" is the feedback. When the blade clings to the wet Escher (no slurry when finishing) with a very smooth and slick sensation felt through the blade, it is done, no matter how many laps it takes. Typically I will use around 50-100 laps, but have used both more and less, depending on the feedback. If a "dragging" sensation is felt discontinuously during the honing stroke, it is not yet ready. The felt sensation should be the same throughout the whole of the honing X stroke, which makes sure all of the edge comes into contact with the hone. This is just my opinion based on my own experience. I am certainly not a "honemeister". Others may and probably will have all sorts of opinions on both finishing honing technique and geology. What is important is what works for you, and the key is to obtain lots of hones and razors and experiment! :)